Thanks again! I put a bid in and we'll see what happens. At first I couldn't find it, but your link sent me right there. Please disregard my second PM.

Well, I was outbid already at $41, and he can have it. I could have bought the Stewart snare that came with the set for $50 and turned it down. Not a fan generally, of old MIJ snare drums. If I could get one really cheap, I'd go for it. I'm looking at a six lug Slingerland snare that's a near perfect match for the Stewarts.

Really nice find Bob. I found a nice Stewart set a couple years ago in a beautiful Black Diamond Pearl. 14"x22" 9"x13" 16"x16" and 5"x14" eight lug snare. I have Remo Ambassadors on them and the drums sound great. I hear you about the snare drums. I have used the whole set with the snare on quite a few jazz gigs and the snare is fine. Gets a nice cross stick sound on Latin tunes, nice jazz snare tone, but the one time I took it out on a R&B gig I had to change it after the first set for a Supraphonic. It is just not made for a hard back beat rim shot groove. Doesn't cut through enough. One thing I did to the snare when I had the heads off and cleaning it was to treat the interior wood with Danish Oil/ Tung Oil . That old Luan soaked it up. I know that stuff will penetrate that pourus wood and dry hard preserving it. I plan on treating the other drums too. Maybe give them a little more projection. These drums are great for mellow situations and also mic'ed up sound nice. I think mine are like yours, except a 4 piece set. My badges just say Stewart at the top, and Japan at the bottom. No, worlds supreme quality. The person I got mine from said they were told they were made in 1966. Looking forward to hearing a report on yours after you gig them.

Thanks for your response. I put some used but OK heads on them last night, but still am not satisfied with the sound of the toms, although they are very loud, so they'll work on my rock gigs. I do have a nice early 70's Pearl snare in BDP that sounds great. I paid $50 for it.

The guy I bought these drums from turned to be a really nice guy, a straight shooter, which is rare on craigslist.

I have found that most MIJ snare drums are very lacking in most ways. The construction is second rate generally. The manufacturers skimped on the snare drums back then, the same way they do today, which is weird, because the snare is your most important drum. I plan to pair these drums up with a Slingerland or Leedy snare.

Hey Bob, did you ever wind up gigging with this kit?

If you did, maybe you can give us a little review on them. I'm interested to know how these MIJs perform on stage. Thanks.

Yes, I used them on an outdoor gig, with less than new heads, and the toms sounded OK, but the bass drum was not good, even though it was mic'd. The resonant head on the front was an ancient one with a porthole cut into it, and one of the guitarists had trouble hearing it, so I have an Evans EQ-3NP (no porthole) coming, probably today. I'll be changing out the tom reso heads also.

I have a feeling I'm going to be doing the tung oil treatment on these as recommended, to increase the resonance.

So it sounds like you have a pretty decent kit to gig with, and looks-wise, it's pretty hot looking. Getting the right drumheads to get the right sound is something you would have to do with most used kits, so no biggie.

Tung oil for resonance? I hadn't heard of that one. Is that a good fix for these Phillipino Mahogany MIJ shells? That wood is dry! Probably suck it up like a sponge! I might try this myself if it would really help the resonance.

Another member here recommended tung oil for those luan shells. I'll start with the rack tom and see how that goes. I've often heard that drummers coated the insides of their shells with tung oil or lacquer to improve resonance.

Please keep us updated on this if you do it.

I'm sure a lot of MIJ drummers would like to know if it makes a difference on this wood. I'm guessing it would help this soft wood deflect some of the sound instead of soaking it up, which would help resonance and projection, and maybe even give more volume.

In any case, it would sure make the shell interiors look better!Yes Sir

I gigged the Stewarts again the other night and with better heads and proper tuning, they sounded reasonably decent. I had to tape some tissues to the batter head on the gig, because the bass drum was ringing all over the place and was unsuitable for mic'ing, so when I got home, I cut a felt strip and installed it. Should make a difference.

So far, so good. I ordered a white Stewart bass drum logo decal for the batter head on Fleabay.